EverHidden: Squirrel
by fahrikol
Summary: The Afterlights who live in Everlost don't forget their past, unless they're a skinjacker or they have a reminder of themselves that crossed with them. However, their stories still exist. It is quite easy to find their past, yet they don't know it. You just have to listen. This is Squirrel's story.


School was over on a Friday. The bell signaling that it was 2:15 released a wave of high school students. Among the crowd was Hillary Wanmei and Simon Holters.

Hillary was beautiful. She had long blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. She was in perfect shape and had a fine figure for a junior, and had perfect scores in all her classes and was her class's valedictorian. She had never smoked a cigarette in her life and had never cheated on a test before. She hung out with the right people, and had a sweet boyfriend who played quarterback on the school's football team, Harry. Today, she was wearing a tight, but not revealing, blue top, with skinny jeans. She was the envy of every girl in school, whether or not they would admit it.

Simon was short, yet lanky. He was short for a He had brown hair and dark brown eyes. He wasn't unappealing, but he wasn't extremely attractive. He had woken up late this morning, and he still looked a mess. He had thrown on a bright red shirt that advertised a soda brand that he had worn three days ago. His pants sagged a little bit, even though he wore belt. However, the sagging wasn't on purpose; he was just so skinny. His hair was crazy, and his left eye was swollen, because he had bumped it in the bathroom earlier that morning.

Simon turned around and practically swooned at the sight of Hillary. Even though Harry's arm was around her, he walked towards them. He knew that he would be the perfect boyfriend for Hillary. If only she would get rid of the blockhead jock. Simon ran his fingers through his hair, and pulled up his pants, which sagged down again. Harry sneered at the sight of Simon.

"Hey there Hillary." Simon put on a big smile full of braces when she turned to him.

"Oh! Hello Simon. How are you?" Hillary returned his smile with her flawless teeth.

"I'm quite fine, how about you?" Simon did his best to keep the conversation going. Everyday he tried to talk to her a bit more.

"Scram, Holters!" Harry said, and taking his arm from around Hillary, he shoved Simon away. Simon stumbled away a few feet, but quickly regained himself. Hillary looked shocked at Harry's behavior.

"Harry! That's no way to treat one of our friends!" She gently punched his shoulder. "Are you alright, Simon?" Simon nodded. Hillary smiled and let Harry put his arm around her yet again. "Well, we have to go, but I'll see you on Monday, right?" Simon nodded.

"Bye!" Hillary waved good-bye, but Harry just glared. Simon glared right back. When Hillary and Harry were out of Simon's hearing, she turned to him. "What do you have against Simon? He seems nice, but because of you I never get to know him."

"You don't want to know scum like him. Besides, we go back. I guess you could say it's a grudge." Hillary glared at her boyfriend.

"You shouldn't hold grudges. It just gives people all the more reason to hold t hem against you." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Besides, he's clearly interested in you." Hillary's eyes grew wide.

"Interested? In me?" She laughed. "Yeah, right." She added sarcastically.

"C'mon! What guy isn't? I was just lucky to get you." Their conversation continued, while Simon walked home. He pulled his backpack over his shoulder and finished the trek home. Simon had loved Hillary since third grade, and she had barely noticed. He had done his best to hint at it. And the fact that Harry had had the nerve to humiliate him right in front of her made him crazy. He had never done anything too stupid in front of her. As simple as the shove was, and however common it was, on this day, it changed Simon. As he walked home, his heart changed, from the sweet, awkward, lovestruck boy, to a heartbroken, angry, determined, disturbed teenager. And this change would forever change his life.

That night, Hillary was in her room, listening to music that was popular, but was clean. She was laying on her bed, doing her homework, while everyone else was off partying. Well, almost everyone. Simon silently crept to Hillary's backyard. He opened the gate, and when it squeaked shut, his entire body shuttered to an immediate stop. When no one came to investigate, thankfully, he continued into the Wanmei's backyard. As he knew, there was a tree leading up to her window. He stealthily climbed it, and when he reached the top, he peered into her window. She was facing away from him, and was on her computer, responding to an e-mail from a friend. Simon could read who it was from, but he sat there for a few moments in perfect silence. Then, she left abruptly. Simon figured her parents had called her. Simon, bored with an empty room, looked to see if anything interesting was going on around him.

And that's when he saw it.

A squirrel.

And his branch was beginning to sag.

Thoughts flooded his mind: _OHMYGOSH!/ No, no, no!/Why did it have to be a squirrel?/And my branch is sagging!/Is that squirrel going to come on the branch?/What if the branch falls?/AAAAAAAH!_

It was almost as if his thoughts weighed down the branch even more. He turned and saw that Hillary had come back into her room and was turned away from him. He couldn't scream, and he had to get out of there fast. But that meant going around the squirrel and Simon hated and feared squirrels. Mainly feared though. Then there was a crack. And the second the squirrel stepped onto the branch to further investigate Simon, the branch gave in to gravity's pull. Simon hurtled to the ground, and the squirrel did to. The last thing that Simon remembered seeing while he was alive was the one thing that he hated. A squirrel.

When Simon woke up, nine months later, it was winter, and even though his body was in a comatose, some brain damage must have occurred. He couldn't remember much of his past, except a few details of what he looked like and what he had seen right before he died. A squirrel.


End file.
